The effects of desflurane and sevoflurane on the peri- and postoperative bleeding of adenotonsillectomy patients

Objective: To compare the effects of, volatile anesthetics, desflurane and sevoflurane on intra-operative and postoperative bleeding in patients who underwent tonsillectomy and adenoidectomy. Material and method: Totally 40 children (14 girl and 26 boys) aged between 2 and 16 years were included in this prospective randomized double-blind clinical trial. The patients underwent conventional cold tonsillectomy and curettage adenoidectomy under general anesthesia. For the maintenance of anesthesia, the patients were randomized into two groups: desflurane group and sevoflurane group, each including 20 subjects. Desflurane concentration was set between 4% and 6% (0.7-0.9 MAC), whereas sevoflurane concentration was set between 2% and 2.5% (0.7-0.9 MAC). The amount of perioperative bleeding in milliliters was measured by using separate aspirator bags for each patient. Results: Desflurane caused significantly lower amount of perioperative bleeding compared to sevoflurane (p = 0.03). No significant difference was observed between the two groups in terms of age, body mass index and operation duration, respectively (p = 0.20, p = 0.49, p = 0.07). Conclusion: Desflurane, which is one of the volatile anesthetics, leads to a lower amount of intraoperative bleeding than sevoflurane during tonsillectomy and adenoidectomy operations. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.